R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters that he’s “cautiously optimistic” The Open Championship will be played with fans on property at Royal St. George’s.
The 2020 Open was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and although England remains under lockdown restrictions because of the coronavirus, Slumbers said the R&A is planning for various scenarios of 25 to 75 percent of full capacity, which at Royal St. George’s would be about 40,000.
“Uncertainty is about what the environment will be that we will need to operate in,” Slumbers said. “We've been working very closely with the UK government and Public Health to understand what we can do and what we can't do, and there is no doubt it is extremely complex and very challenging indeed.